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Russian media regulator to investigate BBC's operations Russian media regulator to investigate BBC's operations
(about 3 hours later)
Russia’s media regulator is to carry out checks to determine whether the BBC World news channel and BBC websites are in compliance with Russian law. Russia’s media regulator has said it will carry out checks to determine whether the BBC World News channel and BBC websites are in compliance with Russian law.
The watchdog said it was acting in response to a decision by the British media regulator, Ofcom, which on Thursday said the Russian broadcaster RT had broken impartiality rules in some of its news and current affairs programmes. The Kremlin said the investigation was a direct response to a decision by the British media regulator, Ofcom, which on Thursday said the Russian broadcaster RT had broken impartiality rules in some of its news and current affairs programmes.
The Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said the BBC was being targeted for its “biased” coverage of events in Russia and Syria, and said the review could “certainly” be seen as a response to the Ofcom decision.
It “isn’t in the spirit of the media, but programmed and unfair coverage”, Peskov said in a daily telephone briefing with journalists.
Russia has regularly threatened retaliatory actions against British media if the operations of its state news agencies such as RT are impeded in the UK.Russia has regularly threatened retaliatory actions against British media if the operations of its state news agencies such as RT are impeded in the UK.
Remarks from officials made it clear that the decision by the Russian regulator, Roskomnadzor, on Friday was a retaliatory action.Remarks from officials made it clear that the decision by the Russian regulator, Roskomnadzor, on Friday was a retaliatory action.
Britain’s actions against Russian broadcaster RT left Russia with no option but to respond in kind, foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on Facebook. The foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Britain’s actions against RT left Russia with no option but to respond in kind. “Russia had given warning. Repeatedly,” she wrote on Facebook.
Margarita Simonyan, the head of RT, tweeted: “One must assume they’ll search for an alternative point of view on the BBC. With a microscope.”Margarita Simonyan, the head of RT, tweeted: “One must assume they’ll search for an alternative point of view on the BBC. With a microscope.”
In a statement, the BBC said: “As everywhere else in the world, the BBC works in Russia in full compliance with the country’s laws and regulations to deliver independent news and information to its audiences.” The BBC said: “As everywhere else in the world, the BBC works in Russia in full compliance with the country’s laws and regulations to deliver independent news and information to its audiences.”
Additional reporting by Jim Waterson BBC News Russian has grown by dozens of correspondents in the last two years as a new influx of funding has allowed the broadcaster to hire some of Russia’s top independent reporters. Many of them worked for newspapers and websites that have come under official pressure for investigating the government, state corporations and other powerful interests.
Russia Ofcom’s 190-page report on RT concluded that the channel had breached British broadcasting rules – which require “due impartiality” when discussing contentious political issues – on seven occasions.
In its defence, RT argued that its British viewers of the channel knew it was “avowedly Russian”, adding: “Viewers turn to RT with the expectation that they will receive a Russian viewpoint.”
Although the British media regulator has the power to remove RT’s licence to broadcast in the UK, a fine is a more likely sanction given the relative severity of the offence.
However, the culture secretary, Jeremy Wright, later issued a statement in substantially stronger language than Ofcom, appearing to urge a tough punishment.
“Russia Today’s mask as an impartial news provider is clearly slipping,” he said. “We know some foreign regimes will use any vehicle at their disposal to sow discord in the west. It is vital that as a society we remain vigilant to the spread of harmful disinformation, and Ofcom has strong powers to tackle it where it occurs in broadcast news.”
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